# Cohesivity vs Heroku

Heroku: “The Cloud Application Platform for building, deploying, and scaling apps.”

Heroku used to be the free place you deployed your first idea. That changed in 2022, when it removed its free tier. Now the meter starts at the cheapest paid dyno, and you sign up and add a card before anything deploys. For a company running production apps that is a rounding error. For someone testing an idea, it is a wall that was not there before.

Cohesivity puts the wall back down. One HTTP API, called by your coding agent, provisions the backend as it builds, with no signup and a Free plan at $0\. The project runs for 72 hours, then you claim it. Heroku is a mature platform with a deep add-on marketplace. The difference here is who pays and signs up first, and whether the agent or a person does the wiring.

side by side

## Cohesivity and Heroku, on the points that differ

__Comparison of Cohesivity and Heroku__
|                   | Cohesivity                                                                       | Heroku                                                                                    |
| ----------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| free to start     | Free plan at $0, no card, no signup. A project runs 72 hours, then you claim it. | No free tier since 2022\. Paid from day one (the cheapest dyno is a few dollars a month). |
| signup            | None to provision. You claim later.                                              | An account and a payment method before you deploy.                                        |
| who provisions it | Your coding agent, over one HTTP API.                                            | You, via the Heroku dashboard and CLI.                                                    |
| the backend       | Postgres, Redis, a vector store, storage, hosting, auth and AI, from one API.    | Dynos plus Heroku Postgres, Key-Value (Redis), and a large add-on marketplace.            |
| billing           | Plus $20, Pro $100, one shared balance. Failed calls cost nothing.               | Per-dyno and per-add-on pricing that grows with the app.                                  |

where Cohesivity fits

- Free to start, again. Cohesivity provisions a working backend with no card and no signup, which is the thing Heroku stopped offering in 2022.
- The agent does the setup. There is no dashboard, no dyno to size, and no add-ons to attach one at a time. The agent provisions the database, storage, auth and hosting in one build.
- You claim when it works. A project runs 72 hours before you commit, so you are not paying for a platform to try an idea.

when Heroku is the better call

Pick Heroku if you want a proven, boring-in-the-good-way PaaS. Its dyno model, buildpacks, and add-on ecosystem have run production apps for well over a decade, and that maturity is worth paying for when uptime is the priority.

Pick Heroku if you rely on a specific add-on or the operational tooling it wraps around. The marketplace is deep, and a lot of teams have their whole stack wired through it.

The honest split is stage. Heroku is built for apps that are past the experiment and happy to pay for stability. Cohesivity is built for the moment before that, when an agent is standing something up and nobody wants to sign up yet.

questions

### Does Cohesivity have a free tier like Heroku used to?

Yes. Cohesivity's Free plan is $0, and a new project runs 72 hours with no card and no signup before you claim it. Heroku removed its free tier in 2022 and is paid from the first deploy, so this is the clearest practical difference for someone starting out.

### Is Cohesivity a platform-as-a-service like Heroku?

It hosts your app, like Heroku, but it also provisions the database, storage, auth, and AI over the same API. Heroku hosts and leans on a marketplace of add-ons for the rest.

### Do I need to add a card to try Cohesivity?

No. A project runs for 72 hours with no card and no signup, so the agent can build and you can see it work. You claim it with one approval to keep it.

### Can my agent deploy the app and provision the database together?

Yes. The agent provisions hosting and the database and the rest with HTTP calls in the same build, with no dashboard step.

related comparisons

Heroku details verified 2026-07-22 from heroku.com, including its 2022 free-tier removal. Cohesivity details from its own docs. Pricing changes, so check current terms with each provider.

Try it against Heroku.

Copy the onboarding prompt and your agent stands up the backend in seconds.